How to Use a Paper Towel

post from Daring Fireball on 15 May 2012 03:03:41 PM. © Daring Fireball

Seriously, this is a terrific presentation.

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http://www.ted.com/talks/joe_smith_how_to_use_a_paper_towel.html

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Analyst Says Google Chrome Is Coming to iOS

post from Daring Fireball on 15 May 2012 03:03:41 PM. © Daring Fireball

Jay Yarow, regarding a report by analyst Ben Schacter claiming that a version of Chrome for iOS is imminent:

Google is currently paying Apple an estimated 50%-60% revenueshare for searches done through the Safari search box, saysSchacter. So, if there is $1 billion in gross search revenue fromiPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches, Apple gets $600 million, Googleonly gets $400 million. By cutting out Safari, and owning all thesearches, Google gets to keep all of the revenue it generates.

I wonder if this is true. I know that Apple gets money from Google for searches conducted through Safari’s search field, but is it feasible for it to be a revenue share? How would Apple verify the prices paid by the advertisers?

The catch for Google is that Apple doesn’t allow third-partyapplications like Chrome to act as defaults. So, if you click on alink in an email it will take you mobile Safari by default insteadof Chrome.

The other catch is that the App Store rules don’t allow third-party software runtimes. Yes, Chrome for the desktop is based on WebKit, but it’s Google’s own fork of WebKit, and Google’s own JavaScript engine. Chrome for iOS would have to use iOS’s system standard WebKit, and the slower non-Nitro JavaScript engine.

However, as Schacter says, this could be the second wave ofbrowser wars. Microsoft was hammered in the late nineties by thegovernment for making IE the default browser on Windows, and thusmarginalizing the then dominant Netscape browser. If Apple isgoing to follow the same playbook, the government too might followthe same playbook and come after Apple. And don’t forget, Googlehas been active in D.C. making friends, while Apple has haslargely given D.C. a cold shoulder.

There are good security reasons for Apple’s ban on third-party runtimes and disallowing marking memory as executable (which is why App Store apps don’t get the Nitro JavaScript engine). But I can’t think of a good reason why iOS users can’t specify third-party apps to be their default web browser (or email client, or calendar).

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-chrome-browser-is-coming-for-ios-says-macq
uarie-2012-5?op=1

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Airport Security News of the Day

post from Daring Fireball on 15 May 2012 03:03:41 PM. © Daring Fireball

David Porter, reporting for the AP:

More details are emerging in the case of a Newark Liberty Airportsecurity supervisor who allegedly has been using the identity of adead man for the last 20 years.
Law enforcement authorities involved in the investigation sayNigerian Bimbo Oyewole began using the identity of Queens, N.Y.,resident Jerry Thomas three weeks before Thomas was shot andkilled in 1992.

God forbid a passenger gets to the security line holding a cup of coffee, though.

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Read The Full Article:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AIRPORT_SUPERVISOR_FAKE_IDENTITY?SITE=A
P&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-14-20-00-29

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Sabotage Re-Imagined

post from Daring Fireball on 15 May 2012 02:03:27 PM. © Daring Fireball

Hilarious pitch-perfect tribute to Adam Yauch.

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Read The Full Article:
http://vimeo.com/42106181

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Fact-Checking DigiTimes

post from Daring Fireball on 15 May 2012 02:03:27 PM. © Daring Fireball

Harry McCracken:

But the thing is, Digitimes isn?t just wrong some of the time.When it comes to the big Apple stories, it?s wrong most of thetime. Sometimes wildly so. It?s reported that its sources had saidthat Apple was going to release MacBooks with AMD processors,iMacs with touch screens, iPhones with built-in projectors andiPads with OLED displays. Those products, and others mentioned inDigitimes articles, never showed up.

DigiTimes is the tech news equivalent of a supermarket tabloid. The difference is that everyone knows that supermarket tabloids are full of shit, whereas DigiTimes continues to be treated as a reputable news source.

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Read The Full Article:
http://techland.time.com/2012/05/14/digitimes-apple-rumors/

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Monster Physics for iPhone and iPad hits the app
store

post from prMac on 15 May 2012 01:30:00 PM. © prMac

Charlotte based game developer Dan Russell-Pinson announces Monster Physics 1.0 for iPhone and iPad devices. Monster Physics is the latest app from the developer of the very popular Stack the States which is currently a Top 5 education app in the iPhone and iPad App Stores. Monster Physics is a unique building app that lets you play with physics. Build and operate your own car, crane, rocket ship, plane, helicopter, tank and more.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-42763.htm

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What Eduardo Saverin Owes America

post from Daring Fireball on 15 May 2012 01:03:24 PM. © Daring Fireball

Farhad Manjoo on Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin’s utterly shameless renunciation of his U.S. citizenship to avoid post-IPO capital gains taxes.

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Read The Full Article:
http://pandodaily.com/2012/05/12/what-eduardo-saverin-owes-america-hint-nearly-ev
erything/

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JackApps Claims Niche in Offbeat Mobile Gaming
With Memory Hold'em

Indie app developer Jack Apps releases Memory Hold'em, its first foray into the world of offbeat, hybrid gaming for iOS. Memory Hold'em combines the popular categories of memory games and poker with social networking. Memory Hold'em, JackApps' debut app, distills the head-scratching challenge of memory games, the hair-raising suspense of poker, and the laid-back connection of social gaming. 10 winning hand combinations, 20 cards, and an entire world of real-life opponents.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-42765.htm

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Zevrix Updates InPreflight Pro for InDesign CS6
Compatibility

Zevrix Solutions announces InPreflight Pro 2.10, a compatibility update to its document preparation solution for Adobe InDesign. Described as "delightfully simple to use" by Macworld, InPreflight is an all-in-one solution to check InDesign documents, collect them for output and ship to final destination. It combines powerful batch-packaging, quality control and graphic reports. The new version makes InPreflight Pro compatible with recently released InDesign CS6.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-42764.htm

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Study: 3G/4G tablets suck up 3X more data than
smartphones

This probably won?t shock you, but tablets connected to 3G and 4G networks consume a lot more data than their smartphone equivalents. However, on Tuesday video optimization vendor Bytemobile reported exactly how much: tablets eat up three times more data than smartphones over the cellular network.

Bytemobile, which collects anonymous data from the 130 global carriers that use its optimization products, also found that tablet users tend to have much more involved Internet sessions. In the second quarter, the typical iPad session spanned 33 different Web pages, while on iPhone that number was 20 Web pages. Tablet users also seemed to be more engaged in the sites they did visit, possibly through viewing richer media or more direct interaction with site features. Bytemobile said the typical iPad session consumed 160 percent more data than an iPhone session.

Again, the conclusions seem obvious, but it?s interesting to see the numbers attached to them. Cisco Systems? latest Visual Networking Index report found that the average U.S. smartphone users consumed about 201 MB per month in 2011, while the average tablet consumed 382 MB per month when connected to a 3G or 4G network. Bytemobile?s numbers appear to be high, but then again, Byte is measuring usage nearly six months into 2012, and data usage patterns are changing quickly. According to Cisco, average consumption over all connected devices almost tripled in 2011 alone.

If tablet users are now consuming 600 MB or even 800 MB a month, then they’re not yet bumping into the boundaries of their data plans. That doesn?t necessarily mean there isn?t demand for more capacity on a tablet, but it could be a sign that even while tablet customers are increasing their cellular activity, they?re doing so conservatively to avoid hitting their caps.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Read The Full Article:
http://gigaom.com/mobile/study-3g4g-tablets-suck-up-3x-more-data-than-smartphones
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